Lightly Boron-Doped Nanodiamonds for Quantum Sensing Applications

Abstract

Unlike standard nanodiamonds (NDs), boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) have shown great potential in heating a local environment, such as tumor cells, when excited with NIR lasers (808 nm). This advantage makes BNDs of special interest for hyperthermia and thermoablation therapy. In this study, we demonstrate that the negatively charged color center (NV) in lightly boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) can optically sense small temperature changes when heated with an 800 nm laser even though the correct charge state of the NV is not expected to be as stable in a boron-doped diamond. The reported BNDs can sense temperature changes over the biological temperature range with a sensitivity reaching 250 mK/√Hz. These results suggest that BNDs are promising dual-function bio-probes in hyperthermia or thermoablation therapy as well as other quantum sensing applications, including magnetic sensing.

Silicon Vacancy in Boron-Doped Nanodiamonds for Optical Temperature Sensing

“…This is an important and promising application for BNDs in hyperthermia and thermoablation therapy [9]. It was also recently shown that the NV color center in lightly boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) can optically sense small temperature changes when heated with an 800 nm NIR laser with good sensitivity, which could be a better way to precisely monitor local temperature changes during tumor cell treatment [10]. The NV color center in diamonds has demonstrated the highest sensitivity in nanothermometry with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers due to its quantum property of electron spin with long coherence time, high photostability, and easy optical pumping [11,12].…”

“…The NV color center in diamonds has demonstrated the highest sensitivity in nanothermometry with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers due to its quantum property of electron spin with long coherence time, high photostability, and easy optical pumping [11,12]. The spin-dependent properties of the NV center can be optically initiated and then manipulated using optical and microwave-frequency techniques [13,14], which enable sensitive detection of electric, magnetic fields as well as small fluctuations in temperature at a nanoscale system [10,13,15]. However, spin manipulation of the NV center to conduct temperature sensing requires green light excitation and microwave frequency, which can potentially cause heating and photodamage of living cells and tissues, as well as autofluorescence that decreases optical temperature sensing sensitivity in hyperthermia and thermoablation therapy [16].…”

Electrospun Magnetic Nanofiber Mats for Magnetic Hyperthermia in Cancer Treatment Applications—Technology, Mechanism, and Materials

“…Affected cancer cells die as soon as the temperature exceeds 42 • C because cancer cells are more sensitive than healthy cells [21][22][23]. Healthy cells, in contrast, can survive at this temperature [24]. Several methods for energy transfer with external devices are used to generate temperature in the target tissue [25].…”

Effect of boron doping on luminescent properties of silicon--vacancy and germanium--vacancy color centers in diamond particles obtained by chemical vapor deposition

“…This prevents the formation of divacancy complexes and allows to increase the characteristic time of spin coherence and the intensity of luminescence of the nitrogen-vacancy color centers in the negative charge state [12]. In the study [14] for selective heating of biological tissues and control of their temperature, it is proposed to use boron-doped nanodiamonds with nitrogen-vacancy color centers. Due to the temperature sensitivity of the energy of the transitions between the spin sublevels of the ground state of the center, they can act as an optical temperature sensor.…”

“…The centers consist of an internode atom, respectively, Si and Ge, as well as two nearby vacancies in neighboring lattice sites. Boron doping, leading to an increase in the absorption coefficient, will allow for effective heating of DPs with laser radiation, for example, during local hyperthermia and thermoablation therapy [7,14]. The possibility of using the high sensitivity of the shape and spectral position of the ZPL of the SiV and GeV color centers in borondoped DPs for temperature control requires an analysis of the effect of boron concentration on the luminescent properties of these centers.…”